<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>On Mar 25, 2016, at 1:29 PM, spike <<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net">spike66@att.net</a>> wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1"><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">>…</span></b> didn't mean the French in her poem. Yes, given the word 'frog,' one might jump to that association. (It's a little surprising given that 'frog' is a derogatory term in that context…<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Indeed? I had not heard that. I always assumed that associating a people with a favored unusual food was fair game. It isn’t racist in any way, it is a choice. What is the French equivalent of Yank? I don’t consider Yankee a derogatory term, and coming up with a favored food for USians is tricky. Hamburgers? Hot dogs? Doesn’t everyone eat those? We sometimes refer to the Brits as limeys, but I can imagine they would wear that one with pride because of where it originated. They don’t devour more limes than anyone else I don’t think.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Every nationality needs a nickname of some sort, just to show they are good sports, ja? Foods seem safe to me. Still don’t have one for USians.</span></p></div></div></blockquote><br><style><!--
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--></style><div>That might be how you feel about these things, but it seems to me that the context the term arose in -- whether naming them after a good or after the way their symbol appeared -- was not meant as quaint or playful or just an easy substitute for another word, but as an insult.</div><div><br></div><div>Of course, dysphemisms often lose their sting, which is why new ones tend to be generated, no? I'm not sure, by the way, is 'frog' has lost its sting, and I wouldn't use in most contexts.</div><div><br></div><div>And, again, I don't believe Dickinson had that in mind. I certainly find it to be a hard to accept interpretation rereading the poem again. (Nothing terrible in misinterpreting anything either.) And I think she might be taken aback by that interpretation. This, again, is based on my reading about her.</div><div><br></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Regards,</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dan</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Sample my Kindle books via:</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://author.to/DanUst" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://author.to/DanUst</font></a></div></div></div><div><br></div></body></html>